Davis, California is hot--with a summer design temperature of 103 degrees F. So, researchers at Pacific Gas & Electric Co. made a bold move when they proposed to build an experimental house without an air conditioner. The project was called ACT Squared. "The goal was to apply an integ...

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When Carmine Vasile felt the heat from a copper drain pipe, he got to thinking about where all that heat originated. He realized someone was showering in the bathroom above. Like many other Americans in the late 1970s, he was thinking about how much it had cost to heat all that water ...

Aerated concrete blocks have been used in Europe for more than 50 years. Like typical concrete blocks, aerated concrete is strong, fire resistant and good sound insulation. However, aerated concrete is also lightweight and energy efficient. Aerated concrete was brought to the U.S. abo...

Green Building News Learn About Smaller Homes: Commercial Building Energy Codes Changes Will Drive Energy Efficiency and Emissions Reductions Builders and Consumers Perceive Green Homes as Affordable to Live in – Expensive to Build GSA Moves to LEED Gold for All New Federal Buildings ...

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For most residential applications low-emissivity (low-e) coatings are sufficient. They can cut heat gain up to 25 percent without changing the window's appearance. You may think of low-e as a wintertime heat saver that cuts heat loss from a building. Low-e coatings also reduce summer ...

Home ventilation is supposed to improve indoor air quality. In another case of more is not necessarily better, high-powered kitchen range hoods could be hazardous to health. Many new fans remove air at a rate of more than 600 CFM (cubic ft. per minute)--and some exceed 1,000 CFM. In c...

If you've been carefully sealing electrical boxes, but buying cheap windows and neglecting to gasket beneath your wall plates, you've probably been throwing dollars to the wind. The story is told by the accompanying chart, which was created by Dennis Creech of the Southface Energy Cen...

Green Building Library Waste Reduction and Recycling Roofing Industry Moves to Recycled and Energy Saving Products by Heidi J. Ellsworth ENERGY STAR®, recycling, green roofs  all buzzwords in an industry that is making a transition to the world of sustainable building products. The r...